“On this week’s Out Loud podcast, Gopnik and the writer Elizabeth Gilbert … join newyorker.com’s literary editor, Sasha Weiss, to discuss how the concept of the G.A.N. has evolved over the years and how it has influenced the aspirations of American writers.” (audio)
Category: words
A Tour Of British Isles Accents In One Unedited Take
Professional accent and dialect coach Andrew Jack covers a dozen or so accents from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and even the Isle of Man – all in 1’25”. (video)
How Can You Be Against World Literature?
What does a critic oppose, exactly, when she takes a stand “against world literature”?
Two-On-One: A Novelist And Her Editors
“As is the case with many novelists with an international profile, Emma Donoghue has more than one editor. … The Canadian novelist and her two editors [form Canada and the U.S.] talk about sharing responsibilities, resolving disputes, and the long list of ideas Donoghue has waiting for the novels to express them.”
What Do You Do When The Story You Have To Write Has No Real Plot?
“A truly traumatic thing occurs to the family and then the family begins to unravel. The misery of this family’s daily life takes a slow toll. Real life is plotless, but the experience of reading books that replicate this can be irritating.” Akhil Sharma explains how he approached this “technical problem” of writing his autobiographical novel Family Life.
American Library Association’s Most Challenged Books Of 2013
“The erotic romance book Fifty Shades of Grey is infamous for its scenes involving bondage, sadism and masochism, but the most troublesome literary content in 2013 was language like pee-pee, poopy, wedgie and Dr. Diaper.”
Donna Tartt’s ‘Goldfinch’, Dan Fagin’s ‘Tom’s River’, Vijay Seshadri’s ‘3 Sections’ Win Lit Pulitzers
Tartt’s novel, Fagin’s general nonfiction work and Seshadri’s volume of poetry were joined by prizewinners Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall (biography) and The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 by Alan Taylor (history).
How Social Media Is Changing The Novel
The all-encompassing “age of social” is having a more profound effect on creative endeavour and the novel is no exception.
The Book Blurb Economy
“The omnipresent, gushing blurbs on the covers all clamour for our attention, but can we trust them? Why do authors write them? And why do publishers insist on them?”
Why Irish Novelist Colm Tóibín Doesn’t Want To Be Called A Storyteller
“A particular problem with English people: they seem to think that everyone in Ireland is a writer, and very few of us are writers. And that somehow or other writing comes naturally to us, which it doesn’t. So people love saying to you, “‘h, you Irish—you’re such MAR-velous storytellers, all of you!'”